Britain struck a draft divorce
deal with the European Union after more than a year of talks,
thrusting Prime Minister Theresa May into a perilous battle over
Brexit that could shape her country's prosperity for generations
to come.

While Brussels choreographs the first withdrawal of a
sovereign state from the EU, May, a far from secure leader
hemmed in by opponents in government and her own Conservative
party, must now try to get the deal approved by her cabinet and,
in the toughest test of all, by parliament.

Brexiteers in May's party accused her of surrendering to the
EU and said they would vote the deal down while the Northern
Irish party which props up her minority government questioned
whether she would be able to get parliamentary approval.

"These are momentous days and the decisions being taken will
have long-lasting ramifications," said Arlene Foster, leader of
the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which keeps
the government in power.

"The prime minister must win the support of the cabinet and
the House of Commons. Every individual vote will count."

The British cabinet will meet at 1400 GMT on Wednesday to
consider the draft withdrawal agreement, a Downing Street
spokesman said after Irish and British media were leaked details
of the agreement on the text.

Sterling, which has seesawed since reaching $1.50 just
before Britain's 2016 referendum that saw a 52-48 percent margin
for leaving the EU, surged on news of a deal but then erased
some gains as opponents lined up to criticise May.

Brexit will pitch the world's fifth largest economy into the
unknown and many fear it will serve to divide the West as it
grapples with both the unconventional presidency of Donald Trump
and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.

Supporters of Brexit say that while the divorce might bring
some short-term instability, in the longer term it will allow
the United Kingdom to thrive and also enable deeper EU
integration without such a powerful reluctant member.

SELLING BREXIT

A senior EU official confirmed that a draft text had been
agreed. EU leaders could meet on Nov. 25 for a summit to seal
the Brexit deal if May's cabinet approves the text, diplomatic
sources said.

The EU and Britain need an agreement to keep trade flowing
between the world's biggest trading bloc and the United Kingdom,
home to the biggest international financial centre.

But May, an initial opponent of Brexit who won the top job
in the turmoil that followed the referendum, has struggled to
untangle nearly 46 years of EU membership without damaging
commerce or upsetting the lawmakers who will ultimately decide
the fate of the divorce accord.

By seeking to leave the EU while preserving the closest
possible ties, May's compromise plan has upset Brexiteers,
pro-Europeans, Scottish nationalists, the Northern Irish party
that props up her government, and some of her own ministers.

It is unclear when parliament might vote on a deal. To get
the deal approved she needs the votes of about 320 lawmakers in
the 650-seat parliament. She faces a deeply divided government,
party, parliament and country.

BREXIT BETRAYAL?

Prominent Brexiteers such as Conservative lawmaker Jacob
Rees-Mogg and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said May
had sold out the United Kingdom and that they would oppose it.

"It is a failure of the government's negotiating position,
it is a failure to deliver on Brexit, and it is potentially
dividing up the United Kingdom," Conservative lawmaker Jacob
Rees-Mogg said.

The opposition Labour Party, which has said it would oppose
any agreement that does not retain "the exact same" economic
benefits that it now has with the EU, said it was unlikely the
announced deal was right for Britain.

"It is vassal state stuff," Johnson said, adding that he
would vote against such an unacceptable accord. "Chuck it out."

Johnson's brother, Jo, a pro-European, resigned from May's
government on Friday, calling for another referendum to avoid
her Brexit plans unleashing Britain’s greatest crisis since
World War Two.

IRELAND

May formally began Britain’s divorce in March 2017, ushering
in tortuous negotiations on everything from space exploration
and fishing territories to selling complex financial products
and the future of the land border on the island of Ireland.

As deadlines passed, officials such as Britain's Olly
Robbins and the Commission's Sabine Weyand, a German, raced to
get a deal in late night sessions at the European Commission's
modernist Berlaymont building in Brussels.

With less than five months until Britain leaves the EU, the
so-called Northern Irish backstop was the main sticking point.

The backstop is an insurance policy to avoid a return to
controls on the border between the British province of Northern
Ireland and EU member state Ireland if a future trading
relationship is not agreed in time.

The British government supplied no immediate details on the
Brexit deal text, which runs to hundreds of pages.

Three EU sources said the backstop would come in the form of
a UK-wide customs arrangement, with specific provisions for
Northern Ireland which go deeper on the issue of customs and
alignment with the rules of the EU single market than for the
rest of the United Kingdom.

It would include a review mechanism to bridge between EU
demands that the insurance policy is permanently available and
Britain's request to avoid being held in a customs alliance with
the bloc perpetually.

The DUP has ruled out any deal that treats Northern Ireland
differently.
(Additional reporting by William James, Kylie MacLellan, Andrew
MacAskill, Kate Holton and Alistair Smout in London and Alistair
Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; Writing by Guy
Faulconbridge, editing by David Stamp, William Maclean, Richard
Balmforth)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)